Annabeth's Point of View: Book Two
by RainGold12521
Summary: The title is quite self-explanatory :P  This is Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters but in Annabeth's point of view. I hope you enjoy it :D
1. The Shadow That Belonged to No One

(A/N sorry it has been so long, I couldn't think; I hope you will enjoy it. I am working on two stories at a time- bare will me! xx)

My dream started like this.  
Fierce, fiery, flames obscured Camp Half-Blood from view. Ear-piercing screams shattered the sky. Choking smoke filled camper's lungs, causing them to gasp for air. Monsters littered the grounds of the camp, destroying everything in their path.  
I saw my friends fighting for their lives, against the terrible monsters. I had to help somehow; but I could not move a limb.  
Camp Half-Blood was in ruins. My home was destroyed.

I abruptly sat up straight.  
I had to tell Percy.  
I had to tell _someone_.  
I couldn't exactly tell my family, they would just say to forget about it and don't worry. Percy would understand; He understands me like no one else does. I urgently scrambled out of bed, getting the quilts tangled around my legs, so I had to waste more time getting them un-tangled.  
I changed into the first t-shirt and jeans that I picked out of the wooden draws that I now owned.  
I ran into the bathroom and squirted a large pea-sized blob onto my toothbrush, and placed it into my mouth.  
With the toothbrush in my mouth, I opened my wardrobe and pushed the clothes aside as I pulled my trainers out of the shoe rack at the bottom.  
I stuffed the trainers onto my feet quickly, and placed the toothbrush back into the bathroom cabinet. Then I rinsed my mouth out and ran downstairs.  
I grabbed the last cereal bar that had been left on the work surface, and ate it in two large bites. Then, I filled an empty glass with ice-cold milk and gulped it down in seconds.  
I discarded the glass into the sink and turned to face my family, while leaning on the counter surface.  
"Someone's in a hurry," my dad muttered. I ignored him.  
"I'm going straight to camp after school," I informed him, giving Harriat a fleeting glance.  
Harriat sighed. "Honey," I flinched. She carried on talking as if nothing had happened, "Why do you always rush of to camp?" I gripped the counter tighter. "If you came back home after school, we could drive you there and save you the trip and money."  
"I'll be fine," I reassured them.  
My dad looked concerned. I mentally rolled my eyes. "Are you sure? I don't want you getting lost," my dad asked.  
I physically rolled my eyes this time. "Honestly, dad, I know my way to camp from here back to front." I said.  
"If you insist," Harriat said. I smiled; she was easy to convince.  
I slung my back-pack over my shoulder, and hurried out the door. "Bye! See you in a couple of months." I shouted at them, and shut the door firmly behind me.

I finally arrived at Percy's mom's apartment, at six forty-eight. I placed my invisibility cap on top of my head and climbed the fire escape, to the fifth storey high apartment.  
Percy was sleeping restlessly, mouth slightly open, small gusts of air emerged from his mouth, and a worried frown on his forehead.  
Suddenly, he sat bolt upright, shivering in his bed. He must've had the same dream I had. He turned to look out the window.  
He couldn't possibly see, I was invisible. But he seemed to be staring right at me. Just then, his mom knocked on the bedroom door, "Percy, you're going to be late," I travelled back down the fire escape. Time to track Percy's school. Now that I thought about it, I hadn't got a clue where his school was. I would have to follow Percy.  
I returned to the front of his apartment and waited for Percy to appear out of the front door. He looked across the street, where I was standing. How could he see me? Then I realised my cap couldn't turn my shadow invisible. I ran into the nearest shadow, still keeping an eye on Percy.  
Eventually, after passing through a series of noisy streets, Percy entered a subway. Percy observed the area before heading to a seven-foot tall boy. The boy wore tattered jeans, grimy size-twenty sneakers and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it. His face was kind of brutal-looking and irregular. Why on Olympus did Percy hang out with a guy like this? The tall boy looked like he had just come out of a ferrous fight with a Hydra. But that was not possible; he was an ordinary mortal human, who had had a very large growth spurt. He had probably come from a rough, poor, family.  
As we approached, me (of course) invisible and anonymous to everyone, I found it hard to look higher than his decayed crooked teeth. Very unusual. What kind of magic would stop me from looking higher? I instantly did not trust this guy; I was definitely sticking by Percy. He had been friends (by the way the boy was looking at him like he was the best friend in the world) with him for the whole academic year; he hadn't known there was something sinister and peculiar about him.  
"Hey, Big-guy," Percy greeted him. Did he even know his name? Or did they just call each other by nick names - like me and Percy do? He must do.  
"Yay!" the 'Big-guy' said, clapping his hands like a giant pre-schooler. "I thought you would never come! But you did! You always do. I trust you." his big goofy big made me cringe.  
"Um," Percy ran his hand through his hair, making his hair even messier. It looked nice messy. I know what you're thinking! I am not an Aphrodite girl who marvels over cute boys. Not saying that Percy is cute! But his hair looked nice messy; it wasn't straight and sleek like a nerds. "C'mon, let's go, Tyson."

I followed them onto the subway, having no need to pay for a ticket. We took our seats near the window, but, soon after, I had to get up again because so old lady was about to sit on me. There were no more seats and I wasn't about to expose myself by appearing out of thin air. People would freak out.  
The ride was long and uneventful, the only funny part of it was when there was a jut in the ride and Percy banged his head on the glass window. I had to stifle my laugh with my fist. Percy certainly didn't find it funny; he was rubbing his head and scowling. Tyson was biting his already-short fingernails anxiously, string out the window like it was about to attack him. He obviously didn't like travelling underground.  
Finally, the train screeched to a stop. I followed Percy and Tyson, yet again, outside, blinking at the sudden glare of the bright sunlight. We arrived at Percy's school at eight-twenty-six. We had couple if minutes to spare. A large sign situated at the entrance of the school read: Welcome to Meriwether College Prep!  
The sign was cheesy and childish. The pupils seemed to think it was a colouring board; they had gratified all over it, large smiley face and inappropriate words that I would not like to mention, in a variety of multicolour.  
The school was a long cuboid shape with a small grassy area, which I am predicting was for the outdoor activities, to the left of the building that was fenced off to the outside of the school premises. The school was old and battered; like it had survived a minor earthquake. The building was a disgrace to architecture! If I was the one that designed it, I would feel ashamed. If I could have designed it, I would have designed it a completely different way. A way that would last for a long time and would not get boring for a millennium.  
While I had been re-designing the school in my head, I had not noticed that the bell had gone, signalling for everyone to get to their classes, I was too wound up in my own little world of architecture.  
Despite the fact that I still had my cap on, I was shoved and pushed by what felt like hundreds of people. The question in my mind: if people didn't like school, why were they trying to get to their classes early?  
I received a couple if confused facial expressions, from a couple of people who were in the stampede and had pushed me, but had not seen me. I moved out of the crowds' way and sat on the dirty rock wall until most of them had passed. I had no hope in trying to locate Percy in that crowd! I would have to search the classrooms for him. Or, I could look for Tyson. Tyson should be easy to spot, I thought, and he will be towering over all the students like the empire state building does over Manhattan, and he follows Percy around like a dog.  
I walked in with the last few straddlers, still invisible.  
After searching every single classroom and corridor, it took nearly an hour, just my luck- Percy was in the last one. I decided to keep out of the light, so my shadow did not form. I stood at the back of the room, standing in the shadow of a cupboard. The boy in front of me was clearly the school bully, we was throwing things and shouting at the top of his voice, it took all I had not to punch him and tell him to shut up because he was annoying me. He had piggy-eyes that were as dark as coal, shaggy black hair that was thick with grease, and was dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he bought everything he laid his piggy eyes on, not caring how much money was in his bank. Unlucky for Percy, he was sat in front of the bully. Percy had opened his notebook and was staring intently at something in it, smiling contently. I would have gone over there and looked at whatever Percy found so interesting, but I couldn't move out if my restricted area of shadow. But I didn't need to move anyway because, at that moment, the bully, reached over and snatched it out if the books rings.  
"Hey!" Percy protested.  
I took my chance and stole a glance at the paper. It was a photograph. Of me. It was the picture that I had sent him just after spring break. I was on holiday with my dad in Washington D.C. I was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over my orange camp t-shirt. My blonde curly hair was pulled back in a bandanna. I was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with my arms crossed, smiling because I was satisfied that I had got the chance to visit a famous monument.  
I wondered why he had the picture in his notebook. I hadn't expected him to put it in there, I certainly wasn't thinking he'd do that when I e-mailed it to him. I was suddenly glad that I was invisible and out of sight; my face was burning.  
The bully's eyes widened. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is not your-" if it was possible, I felt my face turn redder.  
"Give it back!" Percy's face was as red as an apple.  
The bully handed the photo to one of his disgusting friends. He was surrounded by about twelve of them, really big idiots who were taller than Tyson. They snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. I resisted the urge to punch them really hard in the guts. Nobody rips up a picture of a famous monument and spits it about!  
They were new idiots who must have been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must have had a weird sense of humour, too, because they had filled in pathetic names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human had names as ridiculous as that- unless your parents were utterly crazy.  
"These guys are moving here next year," the bully boasted, like it was supposed to be something really awesome. "I bet they can _pay_ the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."  
"He's _not_ retarded," Percy was burning, just like the sun. I could literally feel the heat waves emitting from him. Funny, I thought he was the son of Poseidon not Apollo. Nah, if he was the son of Apollo he would be good-looking and would be burning, literally burning.  
"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period." Being the daughter of Athena I am, I immediately began to think what he meant by 'putting him out of his misery next period'. Did he mean that he was going to beat him up? He couldn't exactly kill him in a mortal P.E. game. Or, become friends with him so he was embarrassed all the time? That was an unlikely possibility.  
The bell rang.  
Just as Percy was about to leave the class with Tyson, I decided to take my chance whilst everyone was not paying attention to Percy, and whispered, "Percy!"  
Percy looked around the locker-area, frowning slightly, like he had never heard a girl call his name before, which was probably true in this school.  
I realised quite quickly that my speech had been a complete waste of time: I couldn't take my cap of in the middle of a busy corridor! Besides, Percy and his class were rushed along to the gym; it was time for P.E.

The gym hall was large and empty, it probably echoed if I spoke in it.  
Whoa! I stopped myself just in time before I followed Percy and the boys into the male changing rooms.  
There was no way I was going in there!  
I waited by the door for Percy to come out. I spotted a man who looked ninety-nine years old, with no teeth, and a greasy mop of hair. I assumed he was the gym teacher, he was reading _Sports Illustrated. _To be frank, I was actually surprised. As far as I can remember, P.E. teachers are usually healthy, and in-shape and really active. Not slumping around like they couldn't be bothered to live. Percy just had to be the last one to get dressed! Followed by trembling Tyson.  
The P.E. attire was sky-blue shorts and tie-dyed t-shirts.  
The bully said, "Coach, can I be captain?"  
"Eh?" The old man looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled, "Mm-hmm."  
The bully grinned and took charge of picking. He appointed Percy to be the other team's captain. The majority of the children joined the bully's side, so did the group of visitors. The others that were left went to Percy. Even though I was invisible, i went to join Percy's side, still in the suspense of Tyson.  
After the teams were sorted, the bully spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.  
"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny,"  
Percy looked at him, "What smells funny?"  
"Them." Tyson pointed at the bully's new friends. "Smell funny."  
The visitors were cracking their knuckles, like this was some kind of wrestling match that was about to begin.  
They were acting quite eccentric. Why had Tyson said they smell funny? Did he have an extra-smelling nose, like Grover? That can't be possible. I couldn't smell anything when they passed me, except maybe lynx. Tyson didn't go around sniffing people, did he? If he did, he was totally strange!  
The bully blew the whistle and the game began. The opposing team ran for the centre line. On my side, an Asian boy yelled something in Urdu, running for the exit. Another boy tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. The rest of the team did their best to cower in fear and not look like vulnerable targets.  
"Tyson," Percy said. I saw it before it happened. Why hasn't Percy moved already? His ADHD should have alerted him to budge! "Let's g-"  
A ball slammed into his gut. He sat down in the middle of the gym floor. The other team erupted in laughter.  
Tyson yelled, "Percy, duck!"  
As he rolled, another dodgeball flew past his ear, skimming it by an inch.  
Whooom!  
It hit the wall mat, and the boy behind it yelped. I traced back to who the thrower was: one of the visitors. How did they throw so hard? Then I noticed the biceps that were slowly getting larger and larger, and his height was getting taller and taller.  
What had Tyson said? _They smell funny._  
Monsters.  
"Hey!" Percy yelled at the bully's team. "You could kill somebody!"  
The visitor named Job Bob grinned sinfully. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"  
A cold chill tingled down my spine. Since when did they know what Percy's full name was? He didn't exactly tell them, not by the look on his face he didn't anyway. His face was no longer bright red, but a pale, ghostly white.  
He had finally figured they were monsters.  
The visitors were now growing at a unusual pace, they were now all at least two-and-a-half-metre-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth and hairy arms tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.  
The bully dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who..."  
The other kids on his team had started screaming like the dead souls in the Fields of Punishment, well maybe not _that_ bad, and backing up to the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past the Asian boy just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. The kids started banging on it desperately, but it wouldn't budge at the slightest.  
"Let them go!" Percy bellowed at the giants.  
The one called Joe Bob rumbled at him. "And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"  
He waved his hand and a new consignment of dodgeballs appeared on the centre line- but these balls weren't made of soft non-harming rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannonballs, punctured like bowling balls with fire sparkling out of the holes. They must have been scorching, but the giants picked them up anyway, with their uncovered hands.  
"Coach!" Percy yelled, even though there was no point. He was a mortal; the mist would deceive his eyes.  
The coach looked up from his magazine, sleepily, but, just as I had predicted, he didn't show any emotion, and just muttered, "Yeah. Mm-hmm. Play nice."  
And then went back to his magazine.  
The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. Percy dived aside as the fiery bronze ball sailed past his shoulder.  
"Corey!" Percy screamed.  
Tyson pulled the boy, Corey, out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball detonated against it, demolishing the mat to smouldering shreds.  
"Run!" Percy screamed at his teammates. "The other exit!"  
They ran for the locker room, but with another drastic wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut.  
"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"  
That's so nice of you! I thought sarcastically. What have we ever done to you, may I ask?  
He launched his own fireball. Percy's teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the floor.  
I watched as Percy's hand fled to where his pocket would have been- if only he wasn't wearing gym shorts, that had no pockets! That obviously meant that he had no weapon so I was the only one armed.  
Whilst I was searching my back-pack fire balls streaked passed me, aimed for Percy. When I returned my concentration for a split second back onto the dodge ball game, Percy was sprawled on the floor with two hungry giants staring down at him.  
"Flesh!" They yelled. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They took their aim. I rapidly scrambled around in my bag, but the dagger was know where in sight.  
"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, he jumped straight in front of Percy, just as the giants threw the balls.  
"Tyson!" Percy screamed, but their was no need to scream.  
Tyson had caught the two balls in each hand, and had sent them hurling like rockets back at the gob-smacked owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the metal bowling balls exploded over their chests. Their was no way to explain it. How did Tyson- a regular mortal (or so I thought) catch two fiery metal balls? I took another look at him. There was something stopping me from looking higher than his gnarled, broken teeth. I forced myself to look higher and, instead of an eye, there was one large, calf-brown eye right in the middle of his forehead, with thick lashes.  
The horrific memories flooded back, engulfing everything in a sulphurous gloom. I couldn't think. My mind was a blur. I could only thing about one thing. The worst thing. Cyclops. Cyclopes in Brooklyn.

The floor creaked dauntingly beneath my every step. A layer of thick dust encased everything, the walls were peeling gloomy wallpaper, torn and scratched at every inch. It looked like someone had been trying to claw their way out, frightened by the interior owners. Their was no other movement, other than myself. I could hear nothing, except for the loud beats of my heart, the blood pounding in my ears and the small tiny intakes I was emitting. I couldn't feel my feet. The cold had over-taken me. I felt like a presence wandering, out of my body. I wasn't in control. My feet were the lead, I couldn't think. I was too frightened.  
It was a maze. I was rushing to every corner and turning my head wildly, searching in terror to find my friends.  
At last, I found a dead end. A small door that was hanging on its hinges was open a jar. I cautiously approached and slowly pushed the door with my fingertips, opening it bit by bit.  
As I stepped over the threshold I inhaled a rather large gasp, that scared even myself. The floor was littered with putrid bones, that had been licked clean to shine. A fire was brightly lit and flickering in the middle of the room. The smoke that travelled from the flames led upwards, leading to my friends, all tied up and gagged. They were hanging from the ceiling like smoked hams. Thalia was staring at me, signalling me one message: RUN! A Cyclopes was sat by the fire. Luckily, he hadn't spotted me yet. I drew my knife. The tiny sound of metal against leather split the silence of the crackling fire. To make the night even worse, he heard the knife. He turned and smiled at me, his large eye staring hungrily at me. He spoke, and, instead of the Cyclops voice, my father's voice spoke instead, full of warm love.  
He said, "Now Annabeth, don't you worry. I love you. You can stay here with me. You can stay forever."  
Every syllable burned. Anger flared in my mind, erasing all my other emotions. Lies. I was not loved. And never would be. They were probably glad that I was gone. I would never return. I did not want to stay forever. Never. I knew that decision would never change. My anger took over. Without warning – and realising, I charged at him. The Cyclops just sat their in shock, surprised that I would have the courage to attack. When I was close enough, I stabbed him in the foot with my knife, pushing all my force into it, letting my anger take over and release my anger in what I had built against my family for all those years...

I opened my eyes and flickered back to reality, the dodge ball game was still enduring. There was now only one giant left, and he was about to aim. At Seaweed Brain.  
"…unch approches."  
I ran forward and with the anger that had just been created by my memory, I plunged my dagger deep into his lower back, the knife sinking so deep that the tip of the blade popped out of the stomach of the giant.  
Thud! The ball dropped to the ground, I heard a mutter, "ow," and then the giant burst into a cloud of green flame. As the smoke vanished, Percy just stared, stunned, at me. After a while I got a bit impatient and wonder why he was staring so intently at me. I looked down. I realised I was wearing my camp t-shirt. He probably thinks I wear nothing else, I thought. Well, I do! I have a green top, a red top, a purple top- anyways, that doesn't matter right now. He was actually staring at the kid standing dumb-founded behind me. I recognised him as the bully who had brought the stupid giants to this school. He blinked at me and I could tell he recognised me as 'the girl in Percy's notebook'. "That's the girl… That's the girl-"  
I swung my fist and contacted with his nose, knocking him flat. "And _you_," I told him, "lay off my friend."  
Chaos had erupted. Kids were screaming like banshees and running around like idiots. The gym was in flames. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see a teacher wrestling with a lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.  
"Annabeth…" Percy stammered. "How did you…" Don't ask the question, don't ask the question… "how long have you.." He asked the question.  
"Pretty much all morning," I answered resentfully. I sheathed my knife, not looking him in the eyes. "I was trying to find a good time to talk o you but you were never alone." For the first time, I hoped he wouldn't catch on quickly.  
"The shadow I saw this morning- that was-" My morning is going totally the opposite as I wanted. Percy was blushing slightly. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bedroom window?"  
"There's no time to explain!" I snapped, though I was turning a little red faced myself. "I just didn't want to-"  
"There!" A woman screamed. The doors burst opened and the adults came pouring in.  
"Meet me outside," I told him. "And him." I pointed to Tyson. I didn't want him to be capturing anybody innocent like the other Cyclops. He didn't need to ruin anymore lives. I gave him the most despising look of hate I could. "You'd better bring him."  
"What?"  
"No time!" I said. "Hurry!"  
I put on my New York Yankees base-ball cap, and instantly vanished. I ran out of gap in the wall and into an alley down Church Street and waited for Percy and the Cyclops to emerge. 


	2. Worst Taxi Ride Known To Demigods

After a couple of eventless minutes of listening to sirens screaming, Percy and Tyson came round the corner so I pulled them into the alley before the police could spot them.  
"Where'd you find _him_?" I demanded, pointing at the Cyclopes.  
"He's my friend." he replied.  
"Is he homeless?" I asked curiously.  
"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"  
Speak? I thought Cyclopes could only mimic other personage's voices. "He can talk?"  
"I talk," piped the Cyclopes. "You are pretty."  
"Ah! Gross!" I took a bold step backwards- away from the creep.  
Shooting me a reproachful glare, Percy examined Tyson's hands for a while. When he returned to look at us, his face was full with amazement. "Tyson...you're hands aren't even burned."  
"Of course not," I muttered at his stupidity. "I'm surprised that the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."  
I saw Tyson's grubby, scarred hand reach out to touch my hair but I swatted it away.  
"Annabeth," Percy started, "what are you talking about? Laistry- what?"  
"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals that live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."  
"Laistry- I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"  
Far North... North of America... "Canadians." I decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."  
"The police'll be after me."  
"That's the least of our problems." I reminded myself of the reason why I was here in the first place. "Have you been having the dreams?"  
"The dreams... about Grover?"  
I felt the colour drain from my face... Grover in trouble also? "Grover? No, what about Grover?"  
"Last night..." he explained about his dream of Grover hiding in a wedding dress shop hiding from a monster that was chasing him. Things just couldn't get worse. "Why? What were _you_ dreaming about?"  
My dream replayed in my mind. "Camp," I confessed. "Big trouble at camp."  
"My mom was saying the same thing! But what _kind_ of trouble?"  
"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?"  
Percy shook his head. "None all year... until today."  
"None? But how..." my eyes drifted to the Cyclopes. Of course, no monster would attack a Cyclopes. "Oh."  
"What do you mean 'oh'?" Still the same stupid Seaweed Brain.  
The Cyclopes raised a hand like he was still in school. "Canadians in gym call Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?"  
Percy and I exchanged looks.  
Percy had a lot of explaining to do...  
"Big guy," Percy said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek Gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena-"  
"Yes." The Cyclopes stated.  
"Well... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow western civilization around, living in the strongest countries, so like now they're in the U.S. and sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."  
"Yes." Tyson said again, like he was waiting for Percy to tell him something he didn't already know.  
"Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods," Percy said. "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."  
"Yes."  
The Cyclopes didn't seem confused by anything that Percy was telling him. Well, he's a monster himself! Why shouldn't he already know about all of this? "So... you believe me?"  
Tyson nodded. "But you are... Son of the Sea God?"  
"Yeah," Percy told him. "My dad is Poseidon."  
Tyson frowned- finally confused. "But then ..."  
A siren pierced the atmosphere, and then a police car raced past our alley.  
"We don't have time for this," I said. "We'll talk in the taxi."  
"A taxi all the way to camp?" Percy said. "You know how much money-"  
"Trust me."  
He hesitated. "What about Tyson? We can't just leave him. He'll be in trouble, too."  
"Yeah," I said, although in my mind I said: great, just great. Then again, he couldn't be creating more havoc in Manhattan. "We'll definitely need to take him. Now come on."

"Here." We had stopped at the corner of Thomas and Trimble. I scrambled around in my backpack looking for what we needed. "I hope I have one left."  
"What are you looking for?" Percy asked.  
I ignored him and resumed searching. "Found one. Thank the gods." I pulled out the golden drachma, which had Zeus's side portrait on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.  
"Annabeth," Percy said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."  
"_Anakoche_," I shouted in Ancient Greek, ignoring his brainless comment. "_Harma epitribeios_!"  
I threw my coin into the middle of the street where it sank into the tar like a swamp and disappeared.  
A second passed by and nothing had happened, but then, where the coin had fallen, the tarmac darkened increasingly. It melted into a rectangular pool the size of a car parking space – bubbling red liquid as dark as crimson red, the colour of blood. Then a car sprouted out from the ooze.  
The car was a smoky grey car – definitely a taxi- like it was actually made out of stormy clouds. There were words printed on the door, to my dyslexia it looked something like: RYGA SISSERT.  
The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of rustled hair covering her nose and upwards, and she spoke like a drunk old woman. "Passage? Passage?"  
"Three to Camp Half- Blood." I said, slightly regretting my plan of travelling with the Chariot of Damnation- but it was our quickest transport. I opened the cabs black door and beckoned to the other two who were just stood there like they weren't about to move anytime soon.  
"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take _his_ kind!"  
I didn't need to look to know who she was talking about.  
"Extra pay," I promised. "Three more drachmas on arrival."  
"Done!" The woman screamed. Percy got in first, then the Cyclopes and then I reluctantly crawled in last next to the Cyclopes.  
The interior of the cab was also smoky grey as to blend with the seats which were fractured and lumpy. The old lady in the front – well, the three old ladies that looked identical (a.k.a. the Grey Sisters) were all crammed into the front seat, wearing a charcoal-coloured sackcloth dress.  
Thee one driving said. "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"  
He stamped on the accelerator and I grabbed onto the head rest in front preventing myself from crashing into it. A pre-recorded voice came on over the speaker: _Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus,and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!_  
I was _not_ fastening a massive heavy pitch-black chain around my waist- they could think again if they thought that was a possibility!  
The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the Grey Lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go Left!"  
"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could _see_ that!" the driver whined.  
I had read the stories before and was aware that we were about to hear a _lot_ of bickering for the Grey Sisters. The driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the kerb with a jaw-rattling _thump, _and flew into the next block.  
"Wasp!" the third lady screamed. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."  
"You bit it last time, Anger! It's my turn!" said the driver.  
"Is not!" yelled Anger.  
The middle one, Tempest, screamed. "Red light!"  
"Brake!" bellowed Anger.  
Instead, Wasp slammed on the accelerator and rode up on the kerb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box.  
"Excuse me," Percy said. "But ... can you see?"  
"No!" yelled Wasp from behind the wheel.  
"No!" yelled Tempest form the middle.  
"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.  
Percy looked at me. "They're blind?"  
"Not completely." I said. "They have an eye."  
"One eye?"  
"Yeah." Like a Cyclopes.  
"Each?"  
"No. One eye total."  
Next to me, Tyson groaned and clutched the seat like he was debating whether to eat it or not. "Not feeling so good."  
"Oh, man," Percy said. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"  
Percy looked at me again and gave me a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.  
"Hey," I defended. "Grey Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."  
"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"  
"That's outside their service area," I explained. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."  
"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"  
"Don't remind me!" Wasp howled. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"  
"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but she wacked her away.  
"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"  
"No!" Tempest wailed. "You had it yesterday!"  
"But I'm driving you old hag!"  
"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"  
Wasp swerved hard in Delancey Street, pushing me against the Cyclopes. She slammed into the gas and we whizzed up Williamsburg Bridge at seventy mile per hour.  
The Grey Sisters were fighting for real now- like immature children- slapping each other to get what they wanted.  
At one point, Anger managed to grab the decayed incisor out of Wasp's mouth which resulted in Wasp swerving very close to the edge of Williamsburg Bridge screaming, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"  
The Cyclops groaned again and clutched his stomach.  
"Uh, if anybody's interested," Percy said above the noise. "We're going to die!"  
"Don't worry." I said, my voice betraying me by quivering slightly. "The Grey Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."  
"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rear-view mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"  
"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged. "The capital of Nepal!"  
"The location you seek!" Tempest added. Immediately her sisters started pounding her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"  
"What?" Percy said. "What location? I'm not seeking any- "  
"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing."  
"Tell me."  
"No!" they all screamed in unison.  
"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.  
"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.  
"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that- give it back!"  
"No!" yelled Anger.  
"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"  
She whacked Anger on the back. There was a nauseating _pop_ and the eye flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but only managing to bat it with the back of her hand. There slimy organ flew past her shoulder and landed in Percy's lap.  
He jumped so hard his head bumped into the ceiling and the eye rolled of somewhere near his feet.  
"I can't see!" all three sisters wailed  
"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.  
We were about to crash into the water underneath the bridge so I screamed, "Give her the eye!"  
"I don't have it!" Percy answered.  
"There, by your foot!" I said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"  
"I'm not picking that up!"  
Of all the times, Seaweed Brain, why did he have to non-cooperative now?  
The taxi slammed against the guard rail and skidded along with a horrible grinding screech. The whole car quaked, emanating grey smoke as if it were about to dissolve.  
"Going to be sick!" the Cyclopes warned.  
"Annabeth," Percy yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"  
"Are you crazy? Get the eye!"  
Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge towards Brooklyn, going faster than a fan on its highest setting. The Grey Sisters screeched and pummelled each other for the eye.  
At last, Percy picked up the eye with a piece of tie-dyed T-shirt.  
"Nice boy!" Anger cried, sensing Percy holding the eye. "Give it back!"  
"Not until you explain," Percy told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"  
"No time!" Tempest yelled. "Accelerating!"  
By now, we were zooming past Brooklyn and into Long Island.  
"Percy," I warned. "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."  
"First they have to tell me," he said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."  
"No!" the Grey Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"  
"I'm rolling down the window."  
"Wait!" the screamed. "Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve!"  
"What do you mean?" Percy said. "That makes no sense!"  
"Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five twelve!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"  
We were of the highway, zooming through the countryside of Long Island. I could just see Camp Half-Blood ahead, Thalia's Pine Tree at the crest.  
"Percy!" I protested. "Give them the eye _now_!"  
He threw the eye into Wasp's lap.  
The Grey Sister snatched it up, and pushed it into her eye socket, and blinked. "Whoa!"  
She slammed on the brakes with all her force. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of a farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.  
A huge belch was sprouted from the Cyclopes mouth. "Better now."  
"Alright." Percy told the Grey Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."  
"No time!" I opened my door. "We have to get out _now_."  
At the crest of Half-Blood Hill- my fear had come true: we were under attack. 


	3. Everything's Thrown In Fire

This time, the mythological monster that was trying to attack Camp was not just one, but two Colchis bulls. These bulls were obviously made by the God, Hephaestus, because they were the size of elephants and were made of unbreakable bronze and to make this better: they breathed fire.  
As soon as we took our departure from the taxi, the Grey Sisters accelerated out of the chaos and back to Manhattan, where life was safer. They didn't even wait for their extra drachma payment.  
The battle was getting worse and worse. "Oh, man." I said.  
The bulls were trampling all over the border and campers- which they shouldn't have even been able to pass through the protective borders, something wasn't right and I was going to find out.  
One of the campers yelled, "Border patrol, to me!" A gruff voice which was very familiar and I was glad that she was in charge at this point, especially since she was the daughter of Ares, God of War.  
"It's Clarisse." I said. "Come on, we have to help her."  
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't think of rushing to Clarisse's aid and we weren't on the best of terms considering the events of last summer. However, this was a matter of Camp burning up in flames or it being partially burnt- and I didn't like either too much although the second option would be the best.  
Campers who were assisting Clarisse were scattered about the hill, scurrying in panic as the bulls charged and burst out tunnels of blazing inferno. Around Thalia's tree, large patches of grass were burnt to ashes. A hero, who I recognised as Kyle from the Apollo cabin, was running around screaming whilst waving his hands above his head – the pummel on his helmet was raging in flames. Clarisse wasn't doing so well herself: her armour was charred in places, her shaft was broken, and the other end was embedded in the metal joint in a bull's shoulder- utterly useless.  
Percy uncapped his pen and riptide morphed out of it. "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."  
"No!" I said, he would be quite useful- considering he's a monster himself and Cyclopes have un-human strength. "We need him."  
Percy stared at me. "He's mortal." Oh my gods, Percy- how much kelp is in his brain? "He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't – "  
"Percy do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We'll get burned to crisp."  
"Medea's _what_?"  
I remembered collecting some potion to help with fires from one of my camp field trip to Olympus. I rummaged around in my bag, searching for it. But it wasn't there. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my nightstand at home. Why didn't I bring it?"  
"Look I don't know what you're talking about, but I am not going to let Tyson get fried."  
"Percy-" I tried to explain.  
"Tyson, stay back." Percy cut in. "I going in."  
The Cyclopes tried to protest- which I had no argument too- but he was already being the total Seaweed Brain he was and raced up the hill towards Clarisse, who was bellowing at patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation.  
I retrieved my cap from my pocket and then turned to the Cyclops, who was staring at my hair like it was some treasure or whatever. "Creep." I muttered, and then proceeded to climb up the hill to be of assistance, racing past Percy who was still climbing.  
I managed to distract one of the Colchis bulls into chasing me, by taunting, over to the other side of the pandemonium. Clarisse had time to fight the other bull while I distracted this one from attacking. Just before it caught up to me (it was deadly fast for something of that size), I stuffed my cap onto my head- instantly turning invisible. The bull was confused at my sudden disappearance so it started to sniff, using its large snout to smell instead of its fist-sized ruby eyes to seek.  
As I climbed a tree, out of harm's way, the Colchis bull unfortunately lost interest in locating me. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.  
Percy shouted to Clarisse, but it only startled her instead of warning her. The first bull slammed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backwards and landed in a smouldering patch of grass.  
I decided to take charge due to Clarisse being unable at that moment and the warriors needed some kind of order.  
I started shouting to them to spread out- this would keep the bulls distracted so they wouldn't know which camper to charge at or flame. After a while of this, bull number one got bored and ran in a wide arc and back to Percy and Clarisse who were also getting charged at by bull number two. Percy attacked bull number one with a large swipe of his sword but it only placed a thin gash in his hind. Bull number two then decided to blast white-hot flames at Percy but, luckily, Percy rolled to the side. His foot got caught on a tree root as he spun and he tripped falling to the ground but giving one last attempt to swipe at the bull- he managed to cut his snout of. It galloped away, wild and disoriented. A few campers attacked the bull while they had a chance. Percy tried to stand but his leg buckled underneath him and he fell yet again. His ankle was most likely sprained- badly.  
Bull number one charged at him- but he was helpless.  
I shouted. "Tyson, help him!"  
The Cyclops charged up the hill and wrestled with the border line. "Can't – get – through!"  
I was the only way to help Percy.  
"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"  
Thunder shook the hillside. The Cyclops barrelled towards Percy yelling, "Percy needs help!"  
He dived between them just as the bull released a nuclear firestorm.  
"Tyson!" I heard amongst the flames.  
When the fire died down, the Cyclops stood there totally unharmed. The bull must've been shocked as much as Percy's face showed because it unleashed a second blast, but the Cyclops balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face, bellowing "BAD COW!"  
I couldn't see what effect the Cyclops had made on the bull from this angle, but two small flames shot out of the bull's ears. The Cyclops punched again and the bull crumpled like foil.  
"Down!" The Cyclopes yelled.  
The bull staggered and fell on his back. As soon as I was certain that the bull was down and wasn't rising any time soon, also that Clarisse was taking care of the second bull, I ran over to check on Percy.  
He healed up considerably well once I had given him some of my Olympian nectar to drink from my canteen.  
"The other bull?" He asked.  
I pointed to where Clarisse had taken care of the other bull. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. It was more or less down as it stumbled around the field with it snout half gone.  
Clarisse pulled her helmet of and marched towards us. A strand of her stringy brown hair was smouldering, but she didn't seem to care. "You – ruin – everything!" she yelled at Percy. "I had it under control!"  
After what we had just done to save her! "Good to see you too, Clarisse." I grumbled.  
"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't EVER try saving me again!"  
"Clarisse," I said. "You've got wounded campers."  
My plan worked, even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.  
"I'll be back." She growled then trudged off to assess the damage.  
Percy stared at the Tyson. "You didn't die."  
Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."  
"My fault," I had to give some credit to Tyson who had just saved my best friends life. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would have died."  
"_Let_ him cross the boundary line?" Percy said. "But-"  
"Percy." I said. "Have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the mist and _really_ look at him."  
Percy examined his face and then stammered, "Tyson... you're a ..."  
"Cyclops," I offered. "A baby by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."  
"One of the what?"  
"They're in almost all of the big cities," I said distastefully. "They're ... _mistakes_, Percy. Children of nature and spirit gods... well, one god in particular, usually ... and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him the Chiron, let him decide what to do."  
"But the fire. How – "  
"He's a Cyclops." I said yet again. I picture in my memory of when I saw my friends hung from the ceiling- with the Cyclops in to corner smiling at me hungrily. "They work the forges of the gods. They _have_ to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."  
Percy sat there, still completely stunned.  
Whilst he was thinking- his brain slowly processing everything- Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot of her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."  
"Tantalus?" Percy questioned.  
"The activities director."  
"Chiron's the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."  
Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."  
"But Chiron... he's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be _gone_. What happened?"  
"That _happened_." Clarisse snapped.  
She pointed to Thalia's tree.  
I gazed at where she was pointing to; the pine tree – that held the life force of my best friend, Thalia, who had died to save mine and Luke's lives- was different for some reason. I looked closer and then I noticed it: it needles had turned a sickly yellow, a huge mound of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the centre of the trunk, a metre from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.  
A tingle shot up my spine and I shivered involuntarily. The camp was in danger because the magical borders were failing due to the puncture that was filled with nothing but trouble.  
Thalia's Pine was dying: someone had poisoned it.

**(A/N How good is that? Finishing two chapters in two days! Haahaaha)**


	4. Not The Ideal Brother Anyone Wanted

Chapter Four

As I looked upon camp, I realised I had been gone for too long. It had changed far too much in my absence. Seeing camp was almost like seeing my father's house for the first time last summer - cold and unwelcoming.  
Percy and I trudged to the Big House, Tyson followed asking questions every second, immature whilst pointless if you ask me.  
As we entered Chiron's apartment, he was listening to his boom box while he packed his things into his saddle bag. It was the first time I had seen Chiron pack for anything at all - even the summer camp trips we occasionally took to Olympus he never packed for, he already had his supplies there.  
"Pony!" Tyson froze at the site of Chiron, who stood in his full centaur form. Chiron, I had learnt, preferred to be in his centaur form (if the ceilings were high enough, of course, rather than being cramped in his wheel chair). He had managed to pull himself of as a Latin teacher at Percy's School a year go by compacting his lower half into a wheelchair. From the waist up, Chiron looked like a normal middle-aged man with curly brown hair with a scraggly beard. From the waist down, he was a white stallion.  
Chiron turned, looking offended at Tyson's remark. "I beg your pardon?"  
After what Clarisse had said, I felt a well erupt in my heart. I ran up to him and engulfed him in a hug. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not ... Leaving?" my voice was shaky from trying to keep my teats in. Chiron was like a father to me, unlike my so-called-dad at home.  
Chiron ruffled my hair and shone me a kindly smile. "Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You've grown over the year!"  
Percy swallowed. "Clarisse said you were...you were..."  
"Fired." Chiron's eyes were dull with a hint of dark humour. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr D had to punish someone."  
Anger flared up inside me, my despise for Dionysus increased if that was even possible. Chiron was the best activities director the camp had seen in hundreds of years! Couldn't Mr D have punished one of the campers? Or at least try to figure out who the culprit was? I'm sure the whole Athena cabin would not object to assist in the matter. "But this is crazy!" I cried, my anger taking control. "Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"  
"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed in exasperation, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, undress the circumstances."  
"What circumstances?" Percy asked.  
I knew what Chiron meant, and I don't think he wanted me to mention it at this point in time; I* definitely wouldn't wanted to tell Percy what I meant if it embarrassed me. Then again, Percy never laughed at me whenever I told him something personal - I greatly respected him for that.  
Chiron stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddle bag which the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.  
Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like a puppy, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his childishness. "Pony?"  
Chiron sniffed. "Dear young Cyclops! I am a *centaur."  
"Chiron," Percy said with great sympathy embedded in his mystical eyes. "What about the tree? What happened?"  
He shook his head sorrowfully. "The poison use on Thalia's pine is something form the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."  
"Then we know who's responsible. Kro-"  
"Do not invoke the Titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."  
"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This *had to be his idea. He'd get Luke to do it, that traitor."  
I flinched at the way Percy said Luke's name, he almost spat it. I was still in confusion of why Luke would do such a thing. Even if Percy was right, and it was Luke who poisoned Thalia's pine, how could he do that to the one who died for him? Thalia had died for Luke and me. How could he betray her like that? I couldn't bear to think it.  
"Perhaps," Chiron pondered. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless..."  
"Unless what?" I asked, sensing the mind of Chiron doing it's work. If I could just weave a little more information from him, I could possibly figure it out on my own...  
"No," Chiron said, plummeting a rock into my hopes. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical Borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reserve the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."  
"What is it?" Percy asked. "We'll go find it!"  
I agreed with my whole confidence with Percy; if there was anything that could help this camp, my home, survive, I would do anything to help find it - even if it did mean enduring another quest with Seaweed Brain.  
Chiron closed his saddle bag and pressed the STOP button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on Percy's shoulder, looking at him straight in the eyes. "Percy, you must promise me that you will not* act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, stay* here. train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."  
"Why?" idiot, you don't question Chiron unless absolutely necessary. "I want to do something! I can't let the Borders fail. The whole camp will be-"  
"Overrun by monsters," Chiron said. I was on Percy's side of the argument about the fact that I didn't want the camp to be destroyed, but I didn't want to disobey Chiron either. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the Titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."  
What Chiron was saying was true, Percy knew it too. Kronos was stirring in the pits of Tartarus, waiting to lure powerful demigods - and he'd succeeded with one. Who knew how many more good-hearted demigods he would turn to his side? Who would teach the campers to fight? I thought of all the campers I knew, and how if Chiron was to leave... Well, that would probably increase the number of campers that were deteriorating.  
A felt an unwanted tear leak from my eye, I tried my best to pull myself together. Chiron noticed the tear nd brushed it away. "Stay with Percy, child," he told me. "Keep him safe. The prophecy - remember it!"  
"I-I will."  
"Um..." Percy said. "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about it?"  
Nobody answered him.  
"Right." Percy mumbled. "Just checking."  
"Chiron..." I started, remembering what he had told me a few months ago. "you told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp-"  
"Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger," Chiron insisted. "Swear it upon the River Styx."  
"I-I swear it upon the River Styx." I blurted before thinking, which was definitely not a common thing I did.  
Thunder rumbled outside.  
Percy would always have me around now.  
"Very well." Chiron said. The tension behind his eyes relaxed slightly. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It's possible that know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay exile until this matter is resolved... One way or another."  
I stifled a sob. Chiron patted me comfortingly on the shoulder. "There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr D and the new activities director. We must hope... Well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite so quickly as I fear."  
"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?" Percy demanded. "Where does he get off taking your job?"  
A conch horn blew across the valley; time had flown. It was time for campers to assemble for dinner. I wished that Percy and I could spend more time with Chiron before he had to leave.  
"Go," Chiron said. "You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worries by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the Titan lord has forgotten you!"  
With his words final, he flopped out of the apartment and down the hall, Tyson calling after him, "Pony! Don't go!"  
Once Chiron was out of sight, Percy tried to tell us things would be okay, but he was lying to himself - and none of us believed it.

I promised Percy I'd talk to him later; I still felt shaken as I walked to the front of the Athena cabin line to join my siblings. Usually, the oldest of the cabins lead the line, I wasn't the oldest of my siblings but no one questioned my right to lead the line - I had been at camp for nearly seven years. Check my camp necklace for proof. Each year, at the end of summer you're granted with a bead to add to your necklace, the amount of beads show how many years you've attended camp.  
After Cabin Six, came the Ares cabin, lead by Clarisse. The only marks to show she had been in the four against the bronze bulls were a gas spread across her cheek, and her left arm in a sling from the force of the blow of the bull. Other than that, the encounter will the bull didn't seem to hang her sneering gaze.  
The other cabins filed in: Hephaestus, Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus, Hermes an lastly Poseidon. Dryads morphed out of the trees. Naiads melted from the canoe lake. From the meadow came a dozen satyrs, who reminded me of Grover.  
Grover was a great friend and the best satyr I knew, he had found both Percy and Thalia, children of the Big Three. Who knew, next year he could find a child of Hades! It was a very likely possibility, I doubt Hades would've broken the oath too. Grover had embarked on his quest to find Pan, god of the wild, at the end of last summer. I hadn't heard much of him since Percy told me about his dream of Grover. That reminds me: I need to ask Percy what happened! By the tone of his voice when he said it, I was dreading the worst. I would have to ask Percy after dinner.  
A wood nymph offered me food, and I gratefully took it, solemnly poking at my brisket. I picked up my plate and trudged over to the bronze brazier and scraped part of it into the flames.  
"Athena," I muttered. "accept my offering."  
The smoke from the brisket into something fragrant - the smell of olives with a mix of freshly baked bread. After that I went to join my siblings at the table.  
I chatted to my fellow siblings as Percy had a unfriendly conversation with Dionysus at the head table. When Percy angrily stormed over to his table, leaving Tyson at the head table, I attempted a comforting smile at him, but he didn't look in my direction as he scraped a portion of his pizza into the brazier.  
"That's the new camp activities director." Malcolm pointed towards the man in an orange prison suite that read 0001. "Tantalus."  
My eyebrows raised as I recalled his background story. His ancient story was that he had tried to serve his father, Zeus, and some of the gods a dish of human flesh - his children's flesh to be exact. However, the gods weren't fooled, they sent him straight to the Underworld. His punishment was to be kept permanently hungry and thirsty while standing chin-deep in water with fruit hanging from branches just above his head. Whenever he tried to drink the water or eat the fruit they receded just beyond his reach.  
Tantalus had horribly thin features. His face was forlorn and was an unnatural shade of grey. His eyes were shadowed bye blue bags under his eyes with dirty fingernails and disgracefully cut hair. The orange prisoner jumpsuits that he wore was threadbare. I doubt he even knew how to teach like Chiron did.  
Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow the conch horn to accumulate our attention for announcements.  
"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." Whilst he spoke, he inched his hand towards his refilled dinner plate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within a ruler's distance towards it. I hoped his curse never wore off.  
"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."  
Dionysus clapped politely, followed by some half-hearted applauded from the satyrs.  
"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are re-instituting the chariot races!"  
Havoc broke out - gasps initiated the air in all kinds of types: fury, fear, disbelief, excitement.  
"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice. "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."  
"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations." Lee Fletcher from the Apollo table called.  
"Yes, yes!" Tantalus disregarded the statement. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the wining charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days' time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"  
Excitement roared within the campers - no cleaning the stables? No washing the dishes with lava? All of this absent for a whole month?  
The last person I expected to object raised their voice.  
"But, sir!" Clarisse said. She looked anxious, but she stood unto speak from the Ares table. Some of the campers snickered when they say a piece of paper taped to her back said YOU MOO, GIRL! "What about patrol duty? I mean, if we drop everything to ready our chariots -"  
"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"  
Clarisse blinked, then blushed. "Um, I didn't-"  
"And modest, too." Tantalus grinned. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy ourselves, yes?"  
"But the tree-"  
"And, now," Tantalus interrupted, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "Before we proceed to campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring *this here." Tantalus waved a hand towards Tyson.  
Uneasy mumblings spread out across the campers, my siblings gave me funny looks. I shook my head, indicting I had better reasons for bringing a Cyclops. I wanted to whip my dagger out and kill Tantalus right then and there.  
"Now, of course," Tantalus smirked, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of it's brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes cabin, possibly?"  
Silence at the Hermes table. Travis and Connor Stoll, the leaders of cabin eleven, suddenly developed an interest in the tablecloth. The poor cabin was already full to the brim and about to burst. Placing a two-metre Cyclops in there would definitely mean rebuilding the whole cabin.  
"Come now," Tantalus chided. "The monster must be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where the beast should be kennelled?"  
I gasped with everyone else at the sudden glow above Tyson's head. Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise. I stared at the glowing green light above his head - in the shape of a trident.  
I turned my gaze to Percy, who was staring in horror at the holographic image above Tyson. It was not common that a claiming happened at camp, and especially not to a monster. At that moment, I felt pity for the son of Poseidon, he had a monster for a brother.  
The majority of the campers, excluding some of Percy's friends and I, bellowed out barrels of laughter. Tantalus shouted over the noise, "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can seethe family resemblance!"  
I felt like punning Tantalus - Percy looked nothing like a Cyclops!  
Tyson didn't seem to notice the commotion. He was too mystified, trying to swat the glowing trident that was now fading over his head. He was too naive to understand how much everyone was making fun of him, how cruel people actually were. Guilt danced around in my stomach as I realised I had acted the exact same way towards the Cyclops when I had first met him. I looked o the ground in shame.  
Prejudice at first sight everyone was. 


	5. Screech My Brains Out Much

Feeling sympathetic towards Percy, I located him in the arena, where he was savagely chopping off limbs off the straw dummies.  
"Hey, Percy!" I called, making sure to not stand in his line of his swinging.  
He paused mid-swing, and dropped his arm to his side.  
"Hey." Percy turned around, wiping the hay on his sword on his thigh.  
"So, I was thinking about the chariot race. Do you want to pair up? Y'know, it might help your take our mind off things..."  
_Like Tyson..._ I continued, "Don't me wrong, I hate Tantalus too and I'm worried sick about camp as well. But there isn't any point in moping around waiting for inspiration of what we can do to help. We'll have to wait until either one of us thinks of a brilliant plan to save Thalia's tree."  
Percy nodded, and gave me a smile, which happened to be a rarity at the present time.  
"After all, my mom invented the chariot, and your dad created the horses."  
Percy smirked at that, and said, his voice full of pride, "Together we'll _own_ that track."  
As I took my time walking back to my cabin, Katie caught up to me.  
"So, you're partnering with Percy?" Katie asked, "Isn't he really stupid?"  
"He's not _stupid_." I paused, "He's just acts stupid to annoy me sometimes."  
She raised an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth turning up into a disbelieving grin.  
"It's either that," I reasoned, "Or he has his naive moments."

Poseidon and Athena made the chariot together, therefore me and Percy could make a brilliant chariot with our inherited brains, right? Besides, Percy is very good at choosing the 'in good condition' and fastest horses to pull the chariot along the track. His advantage was talking to the Pegasi.  
So here I was, arguing with Percy about which type of wheels would stay attached to the chariot all the way around the bumpy track three times. After we moved over that subject and started to sketch out our chariot designs, a giggling group of girls from the Aphrodite cabin walked by and asked Percy if he needed to borrow eyeliner for his eye... "Oh, sorry, _eyes_."  
As they walked away laughing, I grumbled, "Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."  
"He's _not_ my brother!" Percy snapped. "And he's not a monitor either!"  
I raised my eyebrows. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he _is_ a monster."  
"Well, _you_ gave him permission to enter camp."  
"Because it was the only way to save your life! I mean ... I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to _claim_ him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous-"  
"He is not! What have you hit against Cyclopes, anyway?"  
I felt my ears turn pink - he didn't know anything about my life before camp! How could he say that?  
_Because he doesn't know_, a low voice whispered into my mind.  
_Well, I'm not about to tell him it either!_  
"Just forget it!" I said, trying to soothe my anger. "Now, the axle for this chariot -"  
"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," Percy said. "He saved my life."  
Because _I_ had let him enter the borders!  
I threw down my pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design your chariot with _him_."  
"Maybe I should."  
"Fine!"  
"Fine!"  
I stormed off, thousands of angry thoughts buzzing around my head like a hive.

For the next couples of days before the chariot race, I slept most of my time working with one of my cabin mates on our chariot. I decided that they were much more cooperative than Percy in this matter. The Athena Cabin had lots of brilliant ideas to contribute to making the best chariot. By the end of it, I felt proud of what we had created, but deep inside I felt guilty for using some of Percy's ideas.  
During the daytime, I kept up my fighting skills by practising every lunch. I noticed Percy fighting there, too. But he never came over to chat, nor did I.  
When the sun was fading below the horizon, I took my role of protecting the camp near the left of the camp property line, aside the forest.  
Even the forest was affected by the poisoning of the Thalia's pine; the terrain was no longer a healthy dark green, but rather a dull brown which was speckled with splatters of sickly yellow. The many trees were starting to slowly moult - the poison seeping into the very spirits of the wood nymphs - as if we had already entered the fall. The forest was not its usual self, which was sprouting with new exhilarating events to overcome or crawling with new creatures waiting to be discovered by a feisty demigod. Instead, it was lifeless. The camp itself was dying; everything was truly being affected by the poison seeping through the ground.  
Why would someone want to dishonour the memory of Thalia in such a ghastly way? If that person - if it wasn't Luke - had known Thalia, I'm sure that they wouldn't have committed that. Thalia was the kindest friend anyone could ever dream of; she was kind, loyal to her word and friends, brave beyond belief, extremely confident in everything ...there are so many words to describe her. After I had been discovered on the streets by Thalia and Luke, I learnt to trust them both with all my heart. But now...the matter is not so. I'm not sure whether or not to trust Luke anymore.  
Anger erupted over me like a volcano, I wanted to punch something. Hard. I wanted to scream at Luke and demand why he would do such a thing to the one who saved his life!  
I hated to break my reputation, but uninvited tears sprang to my eyes, threatening to fall. Fortunately, no one was around to witness me in this state.  
Tantalus had ordered us to forget about border patrol, saying it was 'not important'. However none of us listened, a few campers including Clarisse, had decided to take turns in protecting, guarding, whatever you want to call it, the camp borders in case if an unexpected attack. Monsters could appear from any point of the property line, it was good to have scouts at each main point, and not a single edge of the camp was out of sight. This was, of course, hidden from Tantalus' prying eyes and Mr D, although the wine god wasn't too bothered what we did actually - unless it involved his stash of coke.  
It was not of my decision, but the campers thought it best if I were to protect the camp property line near the forest, due to haven been trained an excellent fighter. To be honest, I would have preferred to be positioned at Thalia's tree. At Thalia's Pine, I would be able to talk to her comforting spirit. You may think I'm crazy, but that is my way of keeping her spirit alive to me. She listens to what have to say. Always, she'll always be there for me. Whenever I'm feeling down or when my mind is swamped with horrible, haunting memories, I usually take myself up to her Pine and place a shaking hand against the trunk. From time to time, I sit ad lean against the tree for a while, until someone notices my absence. I believe she grants me luck or increases my confidence. Mostly, I try to follow her example by remaining confident to everyone and standing up to my enemies, not running away like a frightened doe.  
Over the next few days, I continued my lessons, and the day finally came when the race was due to take place.

Placing the chariot in the designated lane was, to my surprise, a pretty easy job. Two of my cabin mates and I managed to set the chariot down properly.  
The air of the morning was testing to the temperature it would've been in Greece. A small fog layered the ground as if the ground itself was steaming. A light breeze dusted the air, cooling the temperature slightly.  
The race track had been constructed in the place of the empty field between the archery range and the woods. The bronze bulls that we had fought on our first day back at camp had been tamed by the Hephaestus cabin, and then used to plough the oval track in mere minutes.  
Along the side of the track, there were stone steps for spectators, which consisted of: Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads and all of the campers who weren't participating. Mr D didn't turn up; he was known for his laziness of not getting up until past ten o'clock.  
"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. As Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate éclair all the way down the table. "You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to in. two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" Tantalus smiled at us like we were naughty children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the camp fire for a week! Now ready your chariots!"  
Each cabin had a chariot themed to match their godly parent, all the chariots were brilliant in there own ways.  
Our chariot was the original wooden-make painted in grey, pulled by black stallions. We had painted an owl, the symbol of Athena, at the front, with olive branches growing out from the middle and wrapping around the sides of the chariot. The wheels were made of pure hard metal that would withstand any amount of bashing or bumping. Overall, our chariot was classy and suited the theme of Athena perfectly.  
Before the race began, Percy approached me and told me of some absurd dream about sheep that involved a psychopath Cyclops that seemed to think that Grover was a female Cyclops. After he mentioned the 'it' that Percy couldn't understand, I realized what message Grover was trying to get across. But really, Grover had managed to find the only thing that could save the camp. This was Percy just being a Seaweed Brain probably. And I knew just how competitive Percy can be, this could be his way of knocking my thoughts askew.  
"You're trying to distract me." I decided.  
"What? No, I'm not!"  
"Oh, right! Like Grover would just happen to stumble across the _one_ thing that could save the camp."  
"What do you mean?"  
I rolled my eyes, he was so hopeless sometimes. "Go back to your chariot, Percy."  
"I'm not making this up. He's in trouble, Annabeth."  
I hesitated. He _could_ be telling the truth, I mean, Percy and I have learnt to trust each other due to all that we've been through together. Despite our occasional fights, I till continued to trust Percy with anything. And I really did not want Grover to be in any sort of danger.  
"Percy, an empathy link is so hard to do. I mean, it's more likely you were really dreaming."  
"The Oracle," Percy piped up. "We could consult the Oracle."  
I frowned; we needed permission from Mr D or Tantalus to do that. To that however, we would need to be n good terms with Tantalus or Mr D, and we were not at that point so far.  
Before I could answer, the conch horn sounded.  
"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"  
"We'll talk later," I told Percy, my thoughts re-concentrated on the race, "_after _I win."  
After Percy had got back to his chariot, I took my place at the front of the chariot, and turned Taylor, the fighter of our chariot. "Are you ready to win?"  
"As I'll ever be." He then hopped onto the chariot and readied his first javelin.  
AS the chariots finished lining up, a large screech emitted from the trees. In the trees were hundreds of fat shiny pigeon-looking things.  
"Charioteers!" he shouted. "Attend your mark!"  
More and more pigeons were gathering in the woods, screeching louder and louder.  
Tantalus waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves thundered against the dirt. The crowd cheered.  
Almost immediately, I heard a loud horrible _crack! _ I didn't look back and kept my concentration on the track. Laughs emanated from behind me, sounding just like the Stoll brothers, but that didn't last for long. The laughs turned into yells of pain as something crashed into them. Two chariots down, three to go.  
Our chariot was already making its first turn around the post, way ahead of all the other chariots as far as I could tell.  
"See ya!" Taylor yelled.  
I had told Taylor before the race to try and not use his javelins if he must, and have a nice clean race. Fair and square.  
I felt the chariot jolt slightly as Taylor threw his first javelin.  
"Who?" I called, keeping y eyes glued to the track.  
"The birds!"  
_What_? I glanced at the woods, Taylor was right. The birds had now taken a tornado formation, and were spiralling towards us with inhuman speed.  
"Ignore them."I advised. "They might not attack unless inclined to."  
"Right."  
As we raced ahead, Taylor took his second javelin.  
"I told you to leave them alone!" I shouted.  
"Not the birds!" He replied, taking aim. "Percy!"  
My smile faltered slightly, if Percy was gaining…  
Taylor was just about to throw when we heard the screaming. The pigeons were swarming – thousands of he bulleted into the spectators in the stands, and attacking the other chariots.  
Beckendorf was dive-bombed. His fighter tried to bat away the birds but they continued to pursue, leave no line of sight. The chariot veered of course and ploughed trough the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming.  
Clarisse, barked an order to her companion in the chariot, and he threw a camouflage net over their chariot. The birds continued to peck at the chariot, unable to see it properly, but Clarisse was determined to win the race and carried on straight ahead. Her skeleton stallions seemed immune to the distraction and continued on their way to the end of the track as the birds continued pecking their steamy insides out through their bones.  
I yelled at Taylor to go and gather the Athena cabin, he understood straight away. He sprinted over the Athena campers and started to yell orders, his voice overtaken by the screeches of the birds.  
"Time to get Tantalus's good side." I gritted my teeth and slowed the horses until I was riding beside Percy.  
"Stymphalian Birds!" I yelled. "They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away!"  
"Tyson," he called, "We're turning around."  
"Going to wrong way?"  
"Always." He grumbled, but he steered the chariots towards the stand.  
I rode alongside him. As we neared, I yelled at the campers, "Heroes to arms!"  
Despite my loud voice, I doubted anybody could hear me over the racket of screeching.  
Taylor was doing as I said, and had managed to assemble the Apollo archers into a formation, ready to shoot at the birds. However the birds were mixed into the crowd so it wasn't safe to shoot.  
"Too many!" Percy yelled to me. "How do you get rid of them?"  
I stabbed pigeon with my knife. "Heracles used noise! Brass bells! He scared them away with the most horrible noise he could –"  
A moment of realization struck me; there was definitely music at camp that was hideous. "Percy…Chiron's collection!"  
He understood immediately, "You think it'll work?"  
I handed a nearby camper my reigns and leaped from my chariot to his. "To the Big House! It's our only chance!"  
Clarisse had just pulled up at the finish line, and noticed us on our way to the big house. "Your _running_? The fight is here, cowards!" she drew her sword and charged for the stands.  
She had guts but she didn't have the brains.  
The horses suddenly spurted on at extra speed. The chariot rumbled through the strawberry fields, across the volleyball pit, and lurched to a halt in front of the Big House. Percy and I ran inside, tearing down the hallway to Chiron's apartment.  
His boom box was still on his nightstand. So were his favourite CDs. Percy grabbed the most brain-wracking one he could find, I snatched the boom box, and together we ran back to the chariot.  
We raced back to the finish line, the crowd out of control. The blades for the beaks of the birds were snapping at the camper's exposed flesh. Chariots were in flames, campers were wounded all over the place. Tantalus chased breakfast pastries around the stands, every once in a while yelling, "Everything's under control! Not to worry!"  
I set up the boom box as quick as I could, Percy pushed the CD in.  
He pressed PLAY and started up Chiron's favourite – the _All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin. _Suddenly the air was filled with a group of guys moaning in Italian.  
The stymphalian birds went crazy, as if their brains were being bunt out. They started flying into each other like they wanted to bash their brains out. Then they abandoned the tracks altogether, leaving the Apollo children an easy target to strike.  
"Now!" I shouted. "Archers!"  
With clear targets, the Apollo archers had flawless aim, nearly every bird was struck, one arrow affecting multiple others. The ones who managed to escape faded along the horizon like a wisp of black smoke.  
The camp was saved, but the wreckage was the opposite of the relief. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. Almost everyone had an injury of some sort. Immature Aphrodite girls were running around screaming because the hair-do's and make-up were ruined.  
"Bravo!" Tantalus called, but to neither me nor Percy. "We have our first winner!"  
he walked to the finish line, the golden laurel in his hand, and handed it to Clarisse, who was looking like she had just been struck with a lightning bolt.  
Then he turned and smiled at Percy. "And now to punish the trouble makers who disrupted this race." 


	6. Sneak

Chapter 6: Sneak

According to Tantalus, the birds had only attacked due to Percy, Tyson and I's terrible chariot-driving and wouldn't have done so if our driving wasn't a catastrophic.

With Percy's anger taking control of him, he burst out to Tantalus, telling him to go chase a doughnut. Obviously, _that_ didn't help our situation! As far as I can tell, it only made it worse! Tantalus gave us kitchen duty for Percy's inability to keep-his-mouth-shut.

Not only did the kitchen duty involve burning hit lava to kill ninety-nine point nine percent of all germs instead of water with washing-up liquid, but Tantalus had deliberately requested a full course meal which meant extra plates accompanied with enduring through extra stifling hot hours – Tyson didn't mind as he plunged his bare hands into the lava.

On the positive side, Tantalus was now a common enemy between Percy and I so the hours of washing dishes provided us with plenty of time to talk. In this time, Percy retold his dream of Grover to me again. Without the suspicion of him trying to unnerve me before the race, I realized he was telling me the truth. But really, could Grover have really found the one item that could save the camp?

"If he's really found it," I thought aloud, my thoughts in deep. "and if we could retrieve it -"

"Hold on," Percy cut in. "You act like this... Whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp. What is it?"

"I'll give you a clue," I was going to make this a really easy clue, something he would get straightaway. "What do you get when you skin a ram?"

"Messy?"

I sighed. Son's of Poseidon weren't known for their brains in any myth. Percy was no different. "A _fleece_. The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool-"

"The Golden Fleece. Are you serious?"

I scraped a plateful of Stymphalian bones into the lava. "Percy, remember the Grey Sisters? They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. And they mentioned Jason. Three thousand years ago, they told _him_ how to find the Golden Fleece. You _do_ know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?" everyone knew it! He must've, too, at some point in his childhood.

"Yeah." a feeling of relief arose in me, I wouldn't have to educate him any further in Greek History. "That old movie with the clay skeletons."

I rolled my eyes. The feeling departed as quickly as it had come. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."

"_What_?" he demanded.

"Just listen. The real story of the Fleece: there were these two children, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool, which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell of an died along the way, but that's not important."

"It was probably important to her."

"The _point_ is, when Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the Gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the Kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sicknesses, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution -"

"It could cure Thalia's tree."

I nodded. We were getting somewhere! "And it would totally strengthen the Borders of Camp Half-Blood." I looked at his face contorted with hope. "But Percy, the Fleece has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck."

"But Grover found it." Percy pointed out hopefully. "He went looking fir Pan and he found the Fleece instead because they both radiate nature magic. It makes sense, Annabeth. We can rescue him and save the camp at the same time." I had almost forgotten about Grover been in danger, too, and felt a little guilty for getting carried away about the Fleece. "It's perfect!"

I hesitated. "It's a little *too* perfect, don't you think? What if it's a trap?"

I could tell he knew what I meant when his face fell slightly. Last summer, Kronos had slyly managed to lure Percy to the Underworld and Kronos had almost returned to power. He would've destroyed the whole of the Western Civilization if Percy had not realized in time.

After a moment of silence between us, with only the crashing noise of Tyson plunging into the lava every now and then to collect a piece of cutlery, Percy argued. "What choice do we have? Are you going to help me rescue Grover or not?"

Another crash, quite louder than the others, caused me to glance at Tyson. He was now creating toy boats out of the pots he had fished out of the lava. Looking at Tyson, I realized the biggest problem of all that we would have to face if we did locate Grover.

"Percy," I said under my breath, "We'll have to fight a Cyclops. Polyphemus, the _worst_ of all Cyclopes. And there's only one place his island could be. The Sea of Monsters."

"Where's that?"

Could he be serious? Couldn't he figure where trauma happened all the time? "The Sea of Monsters. The same sea Odysseus sailed through, and Jason, and the Aeneas, and all the others."

"You mean the Mediterranean?"

"No. Well, yes... But no."

"Another straight answer. Thanks."

"Look, Percy, the Sea of Monsters is the sea all heroes sail through on their adventures. It used to be in the Mediterranean, yes. But like everything else, it shifts locations as the West's center of power shifts."

"Like Mount Olympus being above the Empire State Building. And Hades being under Loa Angeles."

"Right."

His questions didn't stop there. "But a whole sea full of monsters - how could you hide something like that? Wouldn't the mortals notice weird things happening...like, ships getting eaten and stuff?"

"Of course they notice. They don't understand, but they know something is strange about that part of the ocean. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just north-east of Florida. The mortals even have a name for it."

"The Bermuda Triangle?"

"Exactly."

He paused. "Okay...so at least we know where to look."

"It's still a huge area, Percy. Searching for one tiny island in monster-infested waters -"

"Hey, I'm the son of the sea god. This is my home turf. How hard can it be?"

There he had a point. But could he master the waters that were so deeply involved in monsters? And, to go on a quest, you have to have permission.

"We'll have o talk to Tantalus, get approval for the quest. He'll say no."

"Not is we tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody. The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse.

"Maybe." I still had a sinking feeling that Tantalus would manage to wriggle his way out of this one like the many pieces of food that darted away from his touch.

As usual, the Apollo cabin led the sing-a-long that night, but their attempts to try and cheer everyone up didn't succeed, after having a hectic afternoon battling the Stamphalian birds. Half-heartedly, the camp sat in a semi-circle and sang the usual songs. The Apollo cabin strummed on the guitars and picked up their lyres. The fire in the middle remained low, the flames the color of lint.

Even Dionysus became fed up and left early, muttering about how pinochle with Chiron was more interesting than this. Throwing a distasteful look at Tantalus, Dionysus headed for the Big House.

When the last song came to an end, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"

He strides forward with a marshmallow on a stick and tried to casually pluck it off. But before his fingers became a inch close, the marshmallow flew of the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames.

Smiling coldly, Tantalus turned back to us all, "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."

"Sir." Percy said.

Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has something to say?"

Some of the Ares cabin snickered, but Percy showed determination. He stood and looked at me with a hint of expectancy. When I stood, his expression relaxed a fraction in relief. He wasn't alone.

He stated, "We have an idea to save the camp."

Complete silence, but it was plain to see that we had captured the interest of every mind in the amphitheater. My suspicions were confirmed when the fire blazed bright yellow.

"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots -"

"The Golden Fleece. We know where it is."

The flames flared orange. Before another word was spoken, Percy launched into his dream out Grover and Polyphemus's island. I stepped in and reminded everybody of the abilities the Fleece possessed.

"The Fleece can save the camp," I concluded. "I'm certain of it."

"Nonsense." said Tantalus dismissively. "We don't need saving."

Everyone stared at him until he started to look uncomfortable.

"Besides," he added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."

"Yes, I would." Percy countered.

Er, at this point I felt Percy was going a little too far. I leaned towards him and whispered, "You would?"

He nodded. "Thirty, thirty-one, seventy-five, twelve." Percy said.

"Oo-Kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."

"They're sailing co-ordinates," Percy said and then I realized. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."

So he does have a brain after all! The taxi ride with the Grey Sisters..."a thirty degrees, thirty-one minutes north, seventy-five degrees, twelve minutes west. He's right! The Grey Sisters gave us those co-ordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"

"Wait just a minute," Tantalus said.

But the campers took up the chant. "We need a quest! We need a quest!"

The flames rose higher.

"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.

"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"

"Fine!" Tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"

"YES!"

"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to the camp. Or die trying."

I couldn't believe our luck! Were we really going to get the chance to save Thalia's Pine? And the effects of the Fleece would strengthen the borders too! I was determined to succeed in this chance.

"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!" Tantalus announced. "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious."

Tantalus looked at Percy and I as if he would love to do nothing more than run us through. "The champion should be the one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. _You_ shall lead this quest... Clarisse!"

The fire flickered hundreds of different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering, "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"

_No way!_ I thought, _Percy and I were the ones who even had the brains to come up with a solution (thanks to Grover's connection)_!

Clarisse stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride, "I accept the quest!"

"Wait!" Percy shouted, even though I knew he had no chance of changing Tantalus's twisted mind. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to _me_."

"Sit down!" yelled one of the Ares campers. I clenched my fist in frustration. "You had your chance last summer!"

"Yeah, he just wants to be in the spotlight again!" another said.

I knew for definite that that was not true! Percy wasn't the one to boast and crave for fame like Clarisse.

Clarisse glared at Percy. "I accept the quest!" she repeated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"

The Ares campers cheered even louder. I started to protest, then the Athena cabin followed my lead, and then the whole camp started to take sides. Yelling and shouting erupted, various marshmallows were even thrown.

"Silence, you brats!" Tantalus shouted.

He toned stunned the majority of the camp.

"Sit down!" he ordered. "And I will tell you a ghost story."

I didn't know what thought had crossed his mind to make him think to tell us a story - we weren't three years old. We all moved reluctantly back to our seats.

"Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the gods!" Tantalus put his hand on his chest, indicating that he was telling his own life story.

"This king," he continued, "was even allowed to feast upon Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe - just one little doggy bag, mind you - the gods punished him. They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children - just - like - you!"

He pointed a crooked finger at random people in the audience, one of those people happened to be Percy.

"Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" Tantalus asked softly. "Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?"

No one made any motion to answer. The firelight glowed a dark blue, reflecting evilly on Tantalus's crooked face.

"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to humour questioned his authority. And do you know what? Rumour has it that the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. And so...are there any more complaints before we send Clarisse off on her quest?"

Silence.

I had half a mind to think of my own devious plan to return Tantalus to his rightful place in the Underworld.

Tantalus nodded at Clarisse, "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."

She shifted uncomfortably, like she had changed her mind about the quest. "Sir-"

"Go!" he snapped.

She bowed awkwardly and hurried off towards the Big House.

"What about you, Percy Jackson?" Tantalus rounded on him. "No comments from our dishwasher?"

Thankfully, Percy remained in silence, resorting to giving Tantalus a look of disgust.

"Good. And let me remind everyone - no one leaves this camp without permission. Anyone who tries...well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well."

With a wave of Tantalus's hand, the fire was extinguished, and the campers filed of towards their cabins with an air of gloominess about them.

When I returned to my cabin, I didn't change. Staying in my clothes, I crept into bed. I was determined not to fall asleep. When everyone had settled down, I called, "Lights out" and the room was instantly cloaked in darkness. I waited for the breaths of my siblings to even out. It took a long time, I knew everyone was probably pondering over what had just commenced.

Could Clarisse sail across the Sea of Monsters and retieve the Fleece from the Cyclops? She had plenty of courage, no doubt about that! Could she even sail a boat? Who had she chosen to accompany her?

I knew that many campers would rather Percy and I went, but it was Tantalus's decision that made it final...

At last, the breaths of the campers were slow and heavy. Everyone was asleep.

As quietly as I could, I crept out of bed. Athena campers were all very light sleepers so whenever the floor board creaked, I winced silently. Tip-toeing across the floor, I put my Yankees cap on, immediately turning invisible. I reached to doorway in success.

Cautiously, I twisted the handle and pulled the door open slowly. In the bed next to the door, one of my fellow cabin mates stirred. I froze.

Suddenly, their eyes flew open, staring straight at me. It was Katie, her gaze flickered to my empty bed, and then back to the doorway, her face relaxed in realization.

"Good luck." she breathed, closing her eyes and turning over.

I smiled, closing the door gently behind me. Hearing the soft _click_ of the handle, I set off at a brisk pace towards Percy's cabin.

It was past curfew, however my cap was on, the harpies would only see my shadow, but not if I stayed in the cover of the shadows. There was no wind about the air. The harpies were squawking somewhere in the distance.

I knocked thrice on cabin three's door.

"Percy!" I hissed through the door.

_He's probably asleep_. I thought.

I pushed on the handle; the door was unlocked. I had never set foot in the Poseidon cabin before. Right now, I couldn't see a thing; the darkness was so consuming!

Someone gave a violent snore.

I jumped, catching myself before I knocked anything. _Was that Percy?_ I thought incredulously. I waved the matter from my thoughts as I concluded it was most likely Tyson. I dearly hoped I wouldn't wake Tyson for good reason. There was a possibility of him turning against us as we were going to head towards one of his own kind to battle for the Fleece. That is, if Percy agrees to sneak out of camp with me. Exactly how we were going to escape the harpies? Not got a clue. But was I determined? Definitely; nothing could stand in my way. Saving Thalia's Pine was like reviving a best friend from a fatal disease. I would do the same if it was Percy in the near-death condition, because that's what friends do. We help each other out in sticky situations.

Like a Hermes child, I crept across the floorboards towards the source of the heavy breathing. When I reached the edge of the bed, the figure in the shadows was way too big to be Percy's form.

_Tyson_, I concluded. I turned to the opposite bed, the one that had a patch of moonlight streaming through the window above the bed, lighting up a square section on the pillow. No one lay there; the quilts were ruffled which suggested recent use. My first demanding thought, 'had he left without me?', then 'did he really think he could find the Fleece alone?' Anger coursed through me, spreading from bone to bone, I turned back to Tyson and roughly shook him awake.

"Percy?" he mumbled groggily, rubbing his sleep-filled eye.

"No-" I started to correct, yanking my cap off.

"Annabeth!" he said delightedly, his eye filled with glee.

"Sshh!" I hissed pressing a finger to my lips. I whispered, "We don't want to be heard. Where's Percy?" my voice sounded rather demanding.

Tyson pointed to Percy's empty bed, his eye never leaving my face.

"He's not there." I tried my best to keep my voice calm. I moved out of Tyson's line of vision so he could see the unoccupied bed for himself.

His eye widened in understanding, "Percy has gone?"

"Yes!" I said impatiently. This was hopeless. "Never mind about were he is, he'll turn up." I paused uncomfortably, regretting my choice in waking him. "Go back to sleep. I'll look for him."

"I will help you!" said Tyson eagerly, scrambling out of bed before I could stop him.

"Wha- no! Tyson stay here!" I whispered hurriedly.

Too late; Tyson beamed toothily at me.

I puffed in aggravation. "Alright." I said tightly through gritted teeth. "He can't have gone far."

We set out of the dark cabin that creaked too much for my liking, like the deck of an old ship. Tyson's feet pounded on the ground with no attempt to keep us in secrecy. With a grimace plastered on my face - no sign of it leaving - I led Tyson around the camp, lurking in the shadows as much as possible; it wasn't that hard, it was nearing midnight by now. Zigzagging my way around buildings, avoiding the harpies and keeping my eyes very alert, I crept stealthily up to Thalia's Pine (the exit and entrance to the camp) where the whole camp would be in site - Tyson ploughed through the lengthening grass with his huge feet behind me. Halfway up treading the hill, the noise of Tyson's feet became too much for me.

"Tyson," I whispered urgently, pausing momentarily to glance back at him. "can you please _try_ to not make as much noise?"

I flickered my gaze to the Big House. Inside was a sleeping Tantalus and a grumpy Mr D: a pair I would _not_ particularly want to be caught out past curfew by.

Tyson nodded vigorously, his smile a blur.

Keeping to his word, he forced his feet to be gentler, resulting in his steps being more like a muffled drum than like a banshee banging on a drum.

At the top of Half-Blood Hill, I stepped into the protective shadow cover of the tree. Looking down on the camp, I sighted the harpies who were now circling the cabins. Luckily we had escaped that! What caught my eye next was a tiny figure in the distance near the ocean, settled on the sands with three even tinier rectangular shapes.

I nudged Tyson, "That him?"

He squinted in the direction of my gaze. "I think so."

We treaded back down the hill with Tyson's feet Theroux as noisily as before.

_Stupid, Annabeth, stupid_, a voice whispered leeringly into my head.

_Wasn't it obvious? Where'd you think he would go to clear his mind?  
_WATER.

"C'mon Tyson." I urged, quickening my pace to a brisk walk. "This way. Hurry."


End file.
